After Saturday’s victory, UM coach Al Golden said it felt like his team had “went through hell and back” during the first month of the season.

No, Golden will truly experience “hell” the next three weeks if his team plays like it did against Bethune-Cookman. The Hurricanes WILL NOT defeat Virginia Tech, North Carolina or Georgia Tech with a repeat performance.

If anything, the Bethune-Cookman victory should serve as a wake-up call for the Hurricanes. Maybe they realize they have lots of room for improvement.

Here’s a closer look at what went right and wrong against Bethune-Cookman:

Plus: Lamar Miller is healthy. Whatever concerns about his tender shoulder were eliminated. Miller showed no signs of this becoming a nagging injury. After the game, he said he played pain-free. With another 100-yard day, he remains on pace to become UM’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Willis McGahee.

Minus: Too many missed tackles. It’s gotten to the point where Golden is the aware of the issue. UM was bailed out by Bethune’s inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities. If the Wildcats converted, the game would have been much closer.

Plus: Tommy Streeter to Jacory Harris. It’s almost like high school for these two. Harris finished without an interception for the first time in seven games. Streeter, who was buried on the depth chart for three years, has finally made his mark. Note to Streeter: Don’t chest-bump with an offensive lineman twice your size.

Minus: Although the Hurricanes cut down on penalties, they are still committing them at the wrong times. Bethune’s first drive was fueled by three offsides penalties. They can’t afford these types of mishaps the next three weeks.

Plus: The `Canes didn’t panic. As Golden pointed out, he was pleased the way his team handled the slow start. Actually, we can’t even call it a slow start because the `Canes didn’t get going until late in the third quarter. Still, they weathered the storm and put the Wildcats away with a quick barrage of scores.

Minus: The loss of linebacker Ramon Buchanan hurts, especially considering the defense is already hurting. Now, it’s up to Jordan Futch and freshman Denzel Perryman to fill the void.

Comments (18 Comments)

A few tidbits.
Denzel Perryman needs to see more playing time ahead of Jimmy Gaines. The kid is a great tackler , has good instincts, and plenty of speed. Gaines has none of those qualities. Also , don’t know why Kelvin Cain hasn’t been more in the mix, in terms of LB depth chart. Everytime he’s on the filed, he makes plays.
Regis and Fortson continue to disappoint, am wondering whether it’s time to forget about Fortson’s potential and give some younger guys game experience.
Getting Armstrong back will be a big plus. IMO, McGee is our best cover corner, and Telemaque is a mainstay, but getting Ray Ray back is priceless.
Need to play a whole lot better just not to get blown out vs. Va. Tech.

We won’t get blown out by VTech regardless. We are not that bad and Va Tech is not that good. Jacory plays well, we win. He doesn’t we don’t. He needs to play VERY well. Not just good moments in one half. I agree about Perryman, Cain, & Futch. Jimmy Gaines is ok…but I just think the physical ability of Futch is above everything else we have. We might as well have Spence at MLB.

If Jacory plays well and we have 1 or less Turn Over’s…we can win.

Oh how I’m dieing to see Streeter and Benjamin and L Miller each have over 100yds of offense. Should be routine each week for these guys.

The defense has holes all over the place. McGee might be our best corner, but he’s average at best. Getting Ray Ray will help, but he’s not a cover guy. Our D Line gets no push and our LB’s having been missing tackles for years. Had BCC’s qb been a little more accurate, the day wouldve been alot longer.

It actually hurts us that Harris had a good game, because it keeps him starting. Morris is only slightly better than Harris and should be playing so he can get better. There is absolutley no evidence that Harris will play a good game next week. He wont even play an okay game. But, maybe that will end this notion of winning now and start the wheels of rebuilding turning.

A few thoughts on yesterday’s game and the season so far: comparing the defense and offense, there is little doubt that Jedd has implemented his strategy better than coach D. No doubt that the defense suffered more in the sense of player turnover via draft, graduation, and suspensions than the offense, but it seems like the defensive strategy is not suited for our personnel. Our defensive front is not applying the pressure we need to be dominant, and that exposes our young defensive backs. Instead of compensating for the lack of a defensive line push by installing creative blitz packages, we rely on a poor performance by the opposing QB. I don’t know if you all noticed, but our defense waits for the ball carrier to run their way rather than attacking.

There are several aspects of our team that have improved with the new coaching staff. JH seems better disciplined, and I think we’ll have a decent offensive season if he learns to take what defenses give him. Special teams seem pretty reliable. Hats off to Kendal Thompkins for making some big plays on special teams. However, I think it is the job of the coordinators to put together the best schemes given the talent of their players. Coach D is not doing that. How frustrating is it for teams to pick up 3rd’s and longs right down the middle? There is no defensive pressure by the line, and few blitzes. We let QB’s sit back and find their open targets or run for big gains. It is an unacceptable scheme when Bethune-Cookman can drive down our field, at home, with little resistance.

I hope our players and coaching staff can make the adjustments needed to keep us competitive in the ACC. Our offense needs to throw laterally when defenses stack the box. When teams respect the our passing game, the running game will open. The defense has larger gaps to address. Perhaps the return of Ray Ray may provided the leadership we need out there, otherwise I hope Golden will hold the staff accountable for poor performances at the end of the season.

Offense-B+
This would be higher but remember, through 4 games, they’ve only put together 8 quarters of offense since they seem to play half of a game.

Special Teams-A
Seems solid, good kickoff and punt coverage. Good returns and perfect on field goals.

Defense-F
Awful…….just awful! There’s no way to sugarcoat it. Poor tackling, poor adjustments, poor coverage. Nobody seems to know how to fill their gaps, or attack the football. Some have shown a few bright spots but consistency. If the D can ever make a few 3rd down stops and our offense play 4 quarters in a game, boys, we will be making some noise and I mean on a national level. But………… At this point it seems like that’s a might big “IF”. I’m just waiting for that to all happen in 1 game. Hope its this Saturday since its in my backyard.

You can tell by the incoherent and yet constantly negative comments that this is not Steve, but some pretender that hates the Canes.

Oh, the byline in small print says it is Shandel Richardson. You know, the guy that banned Canes fans and cheered on the racist comments from Curse. The guy that turned a thriving blog of over 100 comments a day by Cane and non-Cane fans into a cesspool with 20 troll comments per day by one guy with multiple aliases.

We have no defense because we have no talent, give me break to all of you people bashing the coaching already. Vaughn Telemaque a mainstay, why, the guy misses more tackles than anyone else out there. I mean serious people, do you guys see any future first round picks on this defense, bc I dont. Between Alabama and LSU I see atleast 4 or 5 first rounders on those defensed respectively. Thats the problem right there, not coaching, its lack of talent, Denzel only bright spot to me so far, he needs to play more, everyone else on that defense is mediocre, Spence makes a million tackles bc of the lack of takent on the Dline, everyone says that he is our best defensive player, but honestly people in what round do you guys think spence will drafted, if at all. This staff needs to do some major recruiting, thwn come talk to me in a few years.

I couldnt agree more Gortiz. I think a lot of our players have just maxed out their potential. We were optimistic b/c we saw UM duds go onto be NFL studs…Shields, Hester, McIntosh, Graham, etc so we thought it was just a matter of the right coach getting these guys to play to their max potential. But it seems, the culture of the program is to play hard enough to be a starter, but dont plan on laying it on the line until NFL Combine.

Us fans are part of the problem. We cheer and celebrate too many acomplishments like NFL daft Picks, Pro Bowl players and other nonsense. All of that means d!ck right now because our program is terrible. For a lot of years, a good amount of players were on the take and we still couldnt win.

I am a firm believer that all of our football accomplishments mean jacksquat until we field a competitive team year after year

Lets not forget the maryland game we almost won on road with a new team and all those suspensions, and KSTATE IS UNDEFETATED AND RANKED_-had we punched it in 2 yds, we r that close from being 2-0. if we put it all together, we have a good team fellas. we can run off a 9-3 season, even 10-2 if we put it together.